True To Form
by slack-jawed cheese hugger
Summary: x Lunar Knights x They have a common enemy, but when push comes to shove, they may share more than just that. x LucianxAaron, yaoi x
1. If I Imagine

Lucian clutched his chest desperately, gritting his teeth against the pain

AN: aw _man, _I'm really scared about posting this… mrgh.

I hope you like it, anyway.

Enjoy!

--m--

**True To Form**

--m--

Lucian clutched his chest desperately, gritting his teeth against the pain. Was this normal, for someone's heart to hurt so literally on such a normal basis? He tried holding his breath, but immediately let it go, gasping, teeth bared and fangs apparent. Only once before had someone walked in on him when he was like this, and that… had not ended well.

The pain spread out more, encompassing his chest and midsection, and he doubled over, biting back a whimper. He squeezed his eyes closed, holding as tight as he could, and waiting…

Knock.

Knock knock.

"Lucian?" He looked up, at the closed door, wishing frantically that Aaron would go away, so he could ride it out, so he wouldn't see, so he wouldn't lose control… "Lucian, you in there?" Aaron knocked again, more urgent. "Look, I'm coming in, okay, if you're doing something embarrassing stop now, all right?"

Lucian almost lost it completely when the doorknob started turning, but the ache renewed its efforts and he couldn't move, couldn't get away, couldn't deal with it that much longer, and he gave a painful moan. Aaron stumbled in, asking questions, until he saw Lucian, and stopped.

"Go…" Lucian forced out. "Go, go away, hurry, run, please…"

What's wrong with you? What do I do, do you need medical atten—"

"NO!" shouted Lucian, eyes flying open. "No, no, no, no no no no nonononononono--"

"Okay, okay, no hospital. Geez, talk about keeping up appearances-"

"Aaron," Lucian croaked. "Go…" His voice cracked and he sobbed, breathing harsh and raspy. He curled himself into a little ball and flopped down onto the floor in the fetal position, clutching his head.

"Of course not! You're my friend! I'm not leaving you, all right?"

He moaned desperately, and Aaron moved closer, moving the hair from his eyes. "What do I do? Tell me what to do and I'll do it, anything!"

Lucian hissed and tried to say something, so Aaron moved closer to hear what he was saying, and there was a painful grinding sound before he repeated himself.

"Blood…" he whispered crazily. "Need blood."

Aaron pulled back sharply and looked at him, incredulous. Lucian gripped his head harder, mouth opening to try and breathe, and the younger boy could see fangs like a vampire's in his mouth, and suddenly he understood.

He gritted his teeth before lifting his friend from the floor and putting Lucian's head by his neck. "Bite," he said shakily. "Come on, do it already!"

Lucian took a rattling breath before uncurling and sliding an arm around Aaron's other shoulder and one around his waist, holding him still. He deliberated another moment before sinking his teeth into the soft skin of his neck. The brunette held perilously still, face bright red.

After a minute or so of this Lucian began to relax a bit, and slid his left hand down Aaron's arm and under and past, bracing it against the boy's back, rearranging his body to fit better against the other's, holding him gently. Aaron started to relax a little too, even though the blood loss was a little heady. Had he been standing he would have crumpled to the floor, but as Lucian was supporting him he was able to be a little less tense than before.

It felt good that he was able to actually do something helpful for the elder male for once, and he smiled. He trusted Lucian, and while he was hopeful about Lucian's opinion of him, he couldn't be completely sure that he thought so highly of him, and he wanted to do something of merit in return for all the times he'd saved his ass.

He made a resolution then and there to protect Lucian for as long as he could. They would probably be together for a while because of this whole Dumas thing, and this was bound to happen again, so he promised himself that he would do whatever it took for his friend. After all, he wasn't quite strong enough to protect everybody yet, so he'd start with one person.

Aaron started when Lucian moaned against his skin, pulling Aaron closer to himself with an iron grip. Tentatively, Aaron reached up, moving very slowly so as not to startle him, and ran his fingers delicately through Lucian's hair. The elder practically purred, and then blushed furiously, seeming to have remembered where he was and what he was doing.

Very carefully, Lucian pulled his fangs out, and began to lick at the puncture marks to speed up the healing process, making Aaron squeak in surprise.

It felt good.

Aaron realized suddenly that his hand was still in Lucian's hair and began to pet Lucian's head. _He has nice hair,_ observed Aaron sleepily.

"Hey…" murmured Aaron. Lucian looked up, a sated look on his face, listening. "I'm just going to go to sleep now, all right?" Lucian, still not feeling like talking, nodded and let him gently down to the carpet, and Aaron smiled blissfully before falling asleep.

The violet-haired male studied Aaron for a while, wondering vaguely if he had taken too much, if it had hurt, if the brunette was going to be okay…

He felt almost like he had violated some unspoken rule, that friends didn't bite friends. Or allies didn't bite allies; he didn't want to assume. _That would be rude,_ he decided, nodding to himself. _Rude is bad. Okay. I'm sleepy now… gonna sleep next to my pet…_

Lucian lay down, not even noticing what he had just thought, pulled Aaron to his chest, and fell fast asleep. His last thought before he slipped into blackness was _Haven't felt this good in a long time._

And they were out.


	2. That You Didn't Remember

**True To Form**

--m--

"Ehhhh?" whisper-shouted Ursula. "They _what__?!"_

Nero sighed, putting a palm to his forehead. "Look, it's nothing serious. He just bit him, okay, it's all right, nothing bad happened to either one of them."

"Nothing _serious?_ Kitty-man, you gotcher priorities scrambled," muttered Tove.

"I was not aware this was possible, Nero."

"Of course you wouldn't be, Alexander, but it happens every once in a while, okay? Happens all the time. 'Course, usually there isn't anyone around for it. Last time there was I had to get Alice to move him out of the area until it was over… he nearly killed them…"

"So what, you're saying that it is possible, hmm," growled Toasty. "Serious damage could have been dealt."

"Yeah, but I don't think--"

"No, you didn't think."

"Hey!"

"Look! This is not the point! Point is, he bit him, we don't know how hard or how much, but they're asleep, and we should not wake them!"

"I just want to check…"

"No. We have to trust their judgment."

Toasty looked incredulous.

"Okay, _Aaron's _judgment."

Ezra was off to the side, watching stars from a bay window. "All this talk of trust makes me sick," she whispered to herself. "You can never trust a human."

--m--

Aaron was the first one up, or so he thought until he sat straight upright, stretching, and saw, to his astonishment, that Lucian was nowhere to be found. He rubbed his eyes and stood up shakily, and then puttered down the hall to get breakfast. "G'morning," he called to the terrennials, who were still huddled in a circle.

Toasty joined him at the table. "Hey, kid, how ya doin'?"

He yawned before responding. "Had the weirdest dream last night. Lucian was really hurting and it turned out he needed blood like a vampire so I let him bite me." He took a bite of his toast. "Weirdest dream _ever_."

Nero hopped onto the table, looking uncertain. He hissed something at Toasty, who muttered something back out of the corner of his mouth before clearing his throat to speak. "Well, uh... how do I say this…"

"You weren't dreaming," Nero cut in. He jerked his head towards where Lucian had bitten him. "Check, if you want."

Aaron's mouth hung open a minute before he scrabbled at the collar of his shirt, pulled it down, and found the mark. He let go of his shirt, swallowed hard, and stared blankly at Nero. "No, I wasn't…." He dropped his head into his hands. "Shit. He probably hates me now."

"I… I doubt that…" Toasty grimaced. "In fact, I'd ask him yourself. Here he comes now, kiddo."

Aaron looked up, in the direction of the hallway. Lucian had appeared there, leaning against the doorframe, not smirking or frowning but wearing an impregnably blank expression. Aaron jumped. "G-good morning," he stuttered.

Lucian said nothing.

"I wasn't dreaming, was I?"

Nothing.

"Do…" Aaron bit his lip, looking down nervously. "Do you hate me?"

Still nothing.

"Oh… okay…" Aaron deflated and Toasty just barely managed to restrain himself from going over and comforting him.

"I'm really sorry…." He stood up and left the room, quietly. They listened for a minute before they heard the sound of his door closing, and Lucian dropped the I'm-not-talking thing.

"_Fuck!" _he cursed. "God_dammit,_ why can't I ever do these things right?" He grabbed the front of his coat with one hand, gripping white-knuckled to the table.

"Just wait," recommended Toasty. "He'll decide what to do about it soon. Just wait."

"I hate waiting."

--m--

A/N: yes, it's short, but I'm going to do this by sections.

No worries, they lengthen to about 7 pages by the point I'm at.

…then again, who knows how long it'll last at that point?

-grins sheepishly-

Love,

The Head Baka


	3. I Can Pretend

A/N: well if I posted it as one gigantic oneshot nobody would ever review, y'know what I'm sayin'?

Also:

To lady-of-destruction-aria and Heliotropium:

-mutters incomprehensibly and fixes it-

--m--

**True To Form**

--m--

Three days later, out on patrol, he commented on it to Ernest. "So I did this… thing… and Lucian hasn't said a word to me for days. I think he hates me."

Ernest raised an eyebrow. "Is he normally that chatty? I never noticed."

Aaron tried not to grin, and failed, but shook his head anyway. "He'll usually say stuff like 'pass the cereal' or 'hey, that one over there' or 'stop blocking the doorway, stupid' but he hasn't said anything."

"That _is_ a bit of a problem." Ernest tapped his chin. "How about you try asking him what's wrong?"

"Tried that already."

"Huh… hogging the cereal?"

"Ursula recommended it. Didn't work."

"Well, I don't want to recommend this, but… how about doing something particularly risky? Especially concerning vampires. You're strong enough now to deal with them if it does get too bad, so it might work."

Aaron sighed tiredly.

--m--

If it had been anyone else, they would have snapped already. Lesser men would have run off crying to apologize, but Lucian refused to. He didn't want to apologize. He hated apologizing, especially for something that wasn't totally his fault.

The main problem was that he couldn't for the life of him figure out what to _say_ to Aaron.

--m--

"So, kiddies," smirked Ursula, "these are the remains of a collapsed section of the Hunting Mansion. Our intel says there's a vampire holed up in the rubble that know something about Dumas, which might lead us to him."

"Be careful, willya?" said Kay, who had come to get them to the correct area because he was familiar with the Mansion.

"Careful, right," repeated Aaron, not paying attention, before wandering distractedly towards the would-be informant's hideout. Lucian nodded at Kay before following him.

They searched manually for a few minutes before Aaron head a lone footstep and a near-silent curse. He sidled quietly towards where the sound had come from, and heard the vampire slip away with a soft _shush_ing sound back in the direction it had come from. Down a hall he followed it, genuinely curious and, having plenty of experience in deliberately ignoring safety precautions, promptly did so and pursued the vampire.

Down another hall, into a large ballroom and through another door it went before stopping. Aaron fingered the handle of his Knight, but let it go when he heard the thing hiss angrily at him.

"Hello?" he called, trying to see into the shadows at the edges of the room. "You there?"

The hissing stopped and became a chuckle. "Why should I tell you where I am?" the voice said, sliding around the perimeter of the room, letting the door close softly.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to ask a question."

It stopped moving. "A question?"

"About Dumas, he who was Earl and became Duke after Ratatosk vacated the position."

It laughed outright. "Information like that can be…" it stopped, presumably to lick its lips- "…pricey."

"I'm prepared to pay." Aaron tugged at his scarf, exposing the pale skin of his neck. "You may take as much as you like provided I can still walk away afterwards."

Now, his logic may seem faulty, but it went thus: if he could get the information, that would benefit Lucian, and if Lucian decided to play the hero and 'save' him, at least he would be sure Lucian didn't want him dead.

In the unlikely event that neither occurred and the vampire took too much, he could deal with it himself and there would be one less vampire in the world, which happened to be his job anyway.

And if he died of blood loss or another cause, at least it would have been for Lucian's benefit.

Thus he believed it justified.

He wasn't planning on dying, though.

Oh well.

He'd manage.

Back outside his head, the vampire was deliberating his offer. He sat cross-legged in the middle of the room, Knight in hand in case his target decided to make an even bolder move.

Aaron waited.

Finally the vampire made a little decisive grunt and stepped cautiously into the moonlit part of the room. He had sharp red eyes and dark gray hair, and wore only a breastplate of Casket Armor, which didn't fit him at all and had apparently been fished out from a battleground, as it seemed well-worn, but still in good condition. He moved with sliding steps, barely lifting his feet from the ground as if he was planning on jumping somewhere in a hurry. He glared in a show of bravado towards Aaron but it was obvious he was still scared.

"May... may I know your name?" inquired Aaron softly.

"It's customary to give your name before asking someone else's."

Aaron blushed, and introduced himself.

"…Marn," responded the vampire at length.

The brunette nodded once and said nothing, not moving. He watched the vampire with a benevolent sort of stare, studying his face. Marn paused. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"I'm giving you the blood _first_, aren't I? I should be asking that question."

He let out a harsh laugh. "You have a point there, human."

Aaron frowned, but said nothing about it. Marn crouched near him, closing his eyes, and moaned blissfully. "Fuck, your blood smells good." Then he placed one hand near the base of Aaron's neck, supporting his head, and the other around his waist, and bit.

It wasn't a bad feeling, actually. In fact it felt good, and Aaron shivered, thinking back to that man in New Culiacan he had talked to when they first got through the gate who had been ranting and raving about how it felt to be bitten by a vampire. He wondered if this was what he had been talking about.

The vampire Marn, meanwhile, was in heaven. This kid was _strong_, and he had a lot of adrenaline right now. What was he so worried about? Mentally, he shrugged. His blood tasted good and that was all he really needed to know right then.

He could feel the kid (_Aaron, wasn't it?_) shivering. Was it really that scary? Was _he_ that scary? …. Nah, he wasn't a very scary person, even for a vampire. Vaguely, he remembered being a human once, but it was boring so he had forgotten most of it.

"Hey," muttered Aaron. "That's plenty, I'm about to fall asleep."

Marn jumped, and pulled out, lapped up the last of the blood, and sat back, giving a quick half-bow of thanks.

Aaron cleared his throat. "The info?"

The vampire nodded. "What'd you wanna know? Dumas, right?" At the human's nod, he continued. "I heard somethin' interesting about him the other day… I heard he's got a… I think they called it a terrennial, right? Yeah. One of those."

"Anything else?"

"Well…" Marn scratched his chin. "Not quite so sure if this is up to date, seein' as I heard 'bout it a long time ago, but I heard tell that with the two towers in his castle stronghold have to be reached at the same time." He shrugged. "No idea what that means, but that's what I hear about it."

Thoughtfully, the gunslinger stood up, thanked the vampire shortly, and ran out.

It had been a little over half an hour.

--m--

He found Lucian waiting near the entrance, and when he emerged, his head snapped up and he fixed Aaron with a baleful stare.

The younger grinned nervously, waving his hands around. "No, no, I found the vampire. Got some good info, too." He left a pause for Lucian to say something, but he didn't.

With a sigh, he turned and left the Mansion, trudging off in the direction of the Guild hideout, Lucian following like a puppy behind him.

--m--

Well I can honestly say I (at least mostly) like this scene better than the _first_ vampirism scene (not Vampirism, vampirism, as in displaying vampiric traits).

-coughs into fist- Yeah.

Hope you like it!

Review, please!

Love,

The Head Baka


	4. He Wasn't THAT Stupid

Edit: HOLY SHIT Kit was RIGHT I thought I uploaded it and then but I DIDN'T and it turned out I SKIPPED it and oh my _GOD_I'm such an_** IDIOT ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmyg---**_

:takes deep breath: Whoakay. Sorry about that. Man, I am such a retard.

Thanks for pointin' that out, Kit... Jeez louise...

---

That night the majority of the Guild was there for dinner and they had to borrow a few tables from the nearby pub to accommodate them all. Aaron had rushed around for a couple of hours making food with three other Guild-members and Kay, as the stars had aligned and it was announced that there would be twenty-five more people there for dinner than on average. It was really crazy, and Aaron had a pounding headache at the end of it, not to mention he was feeling like he was going to fall over any minute now from lack of blood. The only reason he hadn't eaten copious amounts of food to boost his cell reproduction rate was that it would be pretty suspicious, and he knew for a fact Ernest, at the very least, was watching him and would worry incessantly if he knew what had happened. Toasty could probably tell but he wasn't the type to interfere because he knew what was going on. That, and he knew Aaron would flip if he breathed a word of anything.

Lucian was out, doing something. Like a cat, he'd be back when he was hungry.

The hideout (or more like headquarters; everybody knew where it was) was also in chaos. They didn't have enough rooms or even enough beds, and there was a severe shortage of pillows, so people were placed all along the floors, on the carpets, on the beds, under the tables, on the couches, even three bold Guildsmen in Lucian's room. Aaron had decided he wasn't going to sleep. He had convinced himself he wasn't sleepy and if he admitted he was tired he knew he would pass out on the spot, and that would be _really_ suspicious.

Instead he labored on in the kitchen, long after everyone had gone to sleep, working himself really hard so he'd have an excuse to be exhausted. He reasoned that if it didn't kill him, it would make him stronger.

Kay, in a weird expression of parental behavior, had given him a hug before trudging off to sleep (he was used to sleeping under things so he had opted to sleep under a bed, which, while strange, was something he had insisted was not that big of a deal) so Aaron was alone in the kitchen, making a last push to finish all the dishes, when Lucian walked in.

Aaron looked up. "Hey." He did a double take. "Lucian! Welcome back! Where were you? Are you hungry, we have lots of leftovers…"

Lucian took off his coat and unbuckled his armor, dropping it into a box near the door and sealing it with the key only he had. He had always been paranoid. Then he walked over to Aaron, who was fussing over something in a box on the counter, and stood behind him.

"Aaron."

The younger jumped and turned, staring outright. "You… you talked!" He blinked, and then he grinned. "What?"

Lucian grimaced. "What… what did you do to get intel from that vampire…?" he asked slowly, frowning darkly.

Aaron looked monumentally guilty. "N-nothing!" he said, trying to convince the elder he had done… what, just asked and the vampire had told him?

He didn't do a very good job; Lucian wasn't the least bit convinced. "Come here," he ordered, gesturing, and when Aaron didn't move he pulled him over by the scarf around his neck.

Lucian ignored the shocked and embarrassed look on Aaron's face and unwrapped the scarf, leaning closer in to where Marn had bitten him. Despite Aaron's protests, he sniffed the skin of near the brunette's clavicle, before reeling back. "Dammit, Aaron, you stink of vampire!" He looked deeply disturbed. "What did you _do?"_

"I- I just-" Aaron looked flustered, like a cornered animal. "Marn just-"

"_Marn?!_ You know his fucking _name?!_" Lucian yelled.

Aaron took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and kissed Lucian to shut him up. _He probably woke half the Guild, _he thought frantically.

Lucian had, as he'd hoped, gone completely silent, and when he started kissing back Aaron remembered what he had been trying to do and broke off, dragging him outside.

"Look," he said, voice a little shaky from a combination of fear, excitement, and cold, "I let him feed off me in exchange for the tip-off. I'm fine; I'm going to be fine, nothing happened, it's okay. All right?"

"Aaron," Lucian whimpered uncharacteristically, unaffected by the chilly nighttime air, "he _bit _you. You smell of him. I know it happened, and no, it's not okay, you can't just go taking risks like that-"

Aaron kissed him again, forcefully, blushing red as a tomato, and Lucian made a little whine at the back of his throat, and reciprocated, being extremely gentle. When the shorter of the two pulled away, he made an annoyed face. "Stop that, I forgot what I was going to say." This made Aaron giggle hysterically, arms wrapped around himself for warmth, missing his scarf for once, the place where Marn had bitten him earlier shiny in the dull orange luminance of the streetlights and the lantern over the Guild Hideout door.

They stood like that for a few moments, Aaron not meeting Lucian's eyes, Lucian studying his body language and trying to intercept what he was going to say, which is to say he needed the practice; he had never been very good at reading people anyway, until Aaron figured out how he was going to say it, and took a rattling breath past the lump in his throat.

"I- I'm sorry."

Lucian almost fell over sideways, and succeeded in whacking his head soundly against the stone wall of the building they were just outside of, at which he moaned, rubbing his skull, and looked curiously at Aaron. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yeah, I said I was sorry," whispered Aaron, trying not to cry. "I was totally out of line, the other day, with the- the biting and the- the sleeping on the carpet, in your room, no less, and I had a really weird dream that you were there and…" He stopped, getting a sinking feeling that he had said too much.

The other scoffed. "Shut the _fuck _up."

Aaron looked shocked to his core.

"_I _should be the one apologizing. In fact, I _will _apologize." Lucian went down on one knee so he was closer to the younger one's eye level, and took Aaron's hand. "Can you _ever_ forgive me?" he murmured.

Aaron looked even _more _shocked, if that was possible. After a moment, he closed his gaping mouth and said, "S-sure…"

Then he really lost it and started crying.

Lucian stood up quickly, worried that he had said the wrong thing, and watched Aaron helplessly. "What'd I do?" he cried aloud, totally freaked out, which made Aaron cry harder. He looked around desperately as if someone would jump out and give him an answer, before making a snap decision and pulling Aaron into a hug, stroking his hair gently. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he repeated, frantic, until Aaron wrapped his arms around his waist and buried his face into his shirt. "I'm so, so sorry," he said again, in a soft voice, once Aaron had calmed down a little.

"Why are you apologizing," muttered Aaron into Lucian's chest, "you haven't done anything wrong. I did that because I care, you idiot."

"Even though I'm- unnatural? A freak of nature? You don't hate me?"

"No. I couldn't."

Lucian chuckled, and the sound rumbled in his chest. "You're too nice for your own good, you know."

"I know."


	5. Because It Was His Fault

Well! –claps hands busily- This one is short, but I'm going to put up a SUPER SUPER SUPER long one next so be nice.

Plus, that one's gonna be all about Marn, which I'm fairly nervous about. Please don't maul me for making Ezra so sappy.

Ahahaha…. Yeah…

Hope you like this part, anyway.

--

The next morning they found the two of them asleep together, Aaron curled up in Lucian's lap, Lucian holding him protectively. Everyone crept around the hideout, trying not to wake them up, partly out of respect for the fact that Aaron had done every dish in the kitchen, and partly because Lucian was NOT a morning person and would probably kill anyone who tried to get him to let go of Aaron.

Ernest stood guard, watching them to make sure nobody awoke them before they wanted to get up, glaring at anyone who went too close. It was a strange sight, but they had seen far stranger things, so nobody really minded.

Aaron was the first to wake, and stretched, barely missing Lucian's nose, before he remembered where he was. He looked around frantically. "Oh _no…_" His eyes landed on Ernest, still watching with the eyes of a hawk, looking mildly threatening, but Aaron was used to this habitual scary look. He made a worried sort of sound, and whispered as loud as he could across the room. "Who saw?" he inquired.

"I've been here since I was up, and that was at six."

Aaron facepalmed. "Great," he groaned, "so everyone saw."

Ernest was impassive. "Pretty much."

"Oh, lovely." Aaron tried to crawl out of Lucian's death grip, but failed. He tried again before sitting back, contemplating his options. He could do one of three things to get Lucian to wake up.

Tell him Dumas was attacking.

Kick/punch/elbow him in the stomach or (ahem) elsewhere. Or,

Kiss him to get his attention, which might not make him wake up (or let go, for that matter), but was still worth a try.

He opted for C and craned his neck to access Lucian's face, shifting so he could reach, and as soon as their lips met Lucian's eyes flew open and he almost fell over backwards and whacked his head again, this time on the wall behind him.

Ernest twitched. He probably would never get used to that.

"Well _good _morning to you too," said Lucian, startled but still smirking anyway.

"Mind letting go now?" asked Aaron, batting his eyelashes dramatically. Lucian immediately complied and Aaron stood up, stretching fully, leaning side to side, forwards, and then backwards. He hopped on one leg, yanking one leg back to stretch it and then the other. Then he trotted off to breakfast, dreading the collective reaction of the (aforementioned nearly) entire Guild.

When he reached the kitchen, there were catcalls, whistles, and lots of clapping. Aaron blushed violently, and Lucian stepped up behind him, pulling him backwards to stand flush against his chest, making the rest of Aaron's blood immediately rush to his face. He looked like he was going to explode at any minute.

Bea stepped forward to give him a noogie before wandering off to get more coffee.

--

Hidden from prying eyes, Nero smirked and turned to Toasty. "See? What'd I tell you?"

Reluctantly, Toasty admitted he was wrong about what Lucian would do. "But if anything happens," he said, and trailed off, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

Ursula put out a hand to Alexander, who sighed deeply and handed her the 1000 Soll he'd bet on Lucian rejecting Aaron. Ursula stuffed it into a pocket (where, you ask? I don't know either; terrennials are tricky like that) and crossed her arms, grinning triumphantly.

Tove was making a sandcastle and so he wasn't paying attention.

Ezra had gotten really, really depressed when she had heard what had happened and was nowhere to be found. Chances are, she was in the library somewhere, reading a book or something. It was Alexander's turn to go find her, but he'd wait a while yet. _Give her some time to calm down,_ he figured. _Poor girl._

--

Weeeeeell…. Was it any good? I hope it was.

No worries, the next one's going to be far longer.

And hopefully kinda interesting… but yeah… -scratches head nervously-

Love,

The Head Baka

PS: yes, I do enjoy making people stumble and whack themselves in surprise. It's funny.


	6. Despite The Fact

Ezra was, in fact, in the library, but she wasn't reading. She was talking to a neighborhood cat that had wandered by and started to talk to her. Yes they can speak Cat; they are just awesome that way.

"A human, you say," it said, licking its paw thoughtfully. "Why are you so sad over a human?"

"I- well- it's a long story."

"I've got all day," it meowed, flopping onto its side to listen.

"All right," Ezra sighed. "A long time ago, about a hundred years ago, there was a man, a human…

He was a very beautiful human, and he lived on a plot of land I especially prized. I had made a pact with him that as long as he cared for the land and did not sell it or take more than he needed, I would favor him and his crops would not freeze in the winter, nor would the cold winter be harsh upon his farm.

_He kept his promise for many, many years, and slowly I grew to love him as my own flesh and blood. He was an infinitely kind man, and he loved his animals as his own children. He had many cats _(at this the cat put her head to the side and purred a little) _and he gave them cream and all sorts of treats, and although he had dogs as well, he had them trained from pups to treat the cats as their own pack-mates, which is to say very well, and with much respect. _

_And he lived so for much of his life, until he fell in love with a lovely but wicked woman._

_Her name was Lara, and she was inhumanly beautiful. Her hair was long and black and her eyes were blue as the sky. She had very pretty hands and a shapely body by human standards. She had been raised in a family who had much money and therefore were in high standing among their peers; you know how humans run. Because of this, she did not want to marry a poor man. _

_This man fell deeply in love with her and wanted to marry and have children with her and have her until the end of his days, which is the way of humans, and in order to fulfill this dream he needed money._

_A lot of money._

_He began to work harder, to plant more crops and use loud, screaming machines that dug up the earth and hurt my ears._

_In this way he angered the terrennial of earth, Tove._

_But he said nothing because he knew I loved this man._

_He made traps to catch birds and butterflies and sold them, and there was little birdsong on his property after that for the birds who were missing could not have chicks in the spring._

_In this way he angered the terrennial of wind, Alexander._

_But he said nothing because he knew I loved this man._

_He made fires in boxes for his machines to use, and the fire could not dance or be seen._

_In this way he angered the terrennial of fire, Ursula._

_But she said nothing because she knew I loved this man._

_He placed light bulbs, which we are now familiar with, but did not know at that time, in his house and around his land, banishing the darkness at all hours of the night._

_In this way he angered the terrennial of darkness, Nero._

_But he said nothing because he knew I loved this man._

_All this went unspoken of for a long time, and I refused to see it even though I knew full well what he was doing._

_And it went on and on until he had amassed enough money to woo and then wed the lovely Lana who he was so infatuated with._

_At first, their union was peaceful, but one day she began to complain. 'I do not have enough money to buy my dresses,' she whined._

_And so he planted more crops and tilled more earth until all growth was controlled._

_Then she began to complain again. 'I want a piano to play on,' she whined._

_And so he bought many animals and raised them without care, in small sheds where they were kept in boxes until they were large enough to eat, kill for meat, or sell._

_Again she complained, languishing upon her lovely bed he had worked so hard to buy for her. 'I can't do all the housework myself for it is making my hands rough and ugly. I want a maid to do the chores for me.'_

_And so he bought cattle and sheep and pigs and farmed them for their meat, milk, wool, beef, pork, and mutton, killing them once they were too old to give him more._

_The woman complained yet again. 'This house is too small, make a larger one.' _

_And so he took further advantage of the land and animals he had once cared so much for and paid others to make his house larger and more impressive._

_After this was completed, all was quiet (or what could be mistaken for quiet in comparison to her whining) for some years, until one day he began to hear a hood and gloves and special armor. For what reason I could not yet fathom._

_And then one day…_

_One day he was coming back from doing goodness-knows-what close to sunrise, and I was not there, so he took off his various coverings and went outside with his lovely wife, and they laughed and played until the sun rose._

_What happened next was told to me by Toasty, the terrennial of light, from his place in the sun, as he saw it and I was not there to._

_As the sun peeked out from the edge of the world, he was sitting out in a tree near his house. When the sunlight reached him, he cringed and held up an arm, which was blue like a dead person, and he made an angry face, and his eyes were red and he had long teeth like a snake. His ears were pointed and elongated strangely._

_His wife Lara came from the house, what Toasty told me was a glamour of the kind cast by fairy folk shimmering in the new sunlight, and bade him retreat from the sun which she reminded him would burn him, and come inside, which he did._

_He hated the sun, and would not let the light of day fall upon his exposed skin, for it would burn if it did._

_He cursed the sun._

_In this way he angered the terrennial of light, Toasty._

_But he said nothing because he knew I loved this man._

_He brought his complaint instead to his partner in maintaining he sun, the fire terrennial Ursula, and she agreed that it could not be condoned any longer, and also recounted to him the stories of the fires he had and continued to abuse._

_She had been extremely patient with this man for my sake, but she could take it no longer, and neither could Toasty, so they set out. _

_They brought their complaint instead to the wind terrennial Alexander in his home among the winds, and he agreed that it could not be condoned any longer, and also recounted to them the stories of the birds and other flying things he had and continued to abuse._

_He had been extremely patient with this man for my sake, but he could take it no longer, and neither could Ursula, or Toasty, so they set out._

_They brought their complaint instead to the earth terrennial Tove in his home among the mountains, and he agreed that it could not be condoned any longer, and also recounted to them the stories of the earth and metal and other materials he had and continued to abuse._

_He had been extremely patient with this man for my sake, but he could take it no longer, and neither could Alexander, or Ursula, or Toasty, so they set out._

_They brought their complaint instead to the dark terrennial Nero in his home among the humans, and he agreed that it could not be condoned any longer, and also recounted to them the stories of the blessed nighttime darkness he had and continued to abuse._

_He had been extremely patient with this man for my sake, but he could take it no longer, and neither could Tove, or Alexander, or Ursula, or Toasty, so they set out._

_At last they approached me, in my home in the far, far south among the glaciers._

_First Tove spoke. 'You love this man greatly, correct?' he asked._

'_Indeed I do,' I replied._

_Then Alexander spoke. 'He has angered all of us. Do you understand that?'_

'_Indeed I do,' I replied._

_Next Ursula took her turn. 'You have a sacred pact with him, am I right?'_

'_Indeed I do,' I replied._

_Nero joined in. 'Do you know that he has broken this pact many times over?'_

'_Indeed I do,' I replied._

_Finally, Toasty, who had been silent his whole time, stepped forwards, head bowed in sorrow. 'Do you indeed know that he is a vampire, one who has no regard for the sanctity of life?' He took a deep breath before continuing. 'Do you know that he has forgotten totally about you and ever having a pact, or even wanting to protect his animals and land?'_

'_Indeed I did not,' I replied, grim._

_As soon as I had heard what he had done and what he did not care about, I left for that once-beautiful little patch of land._

_When I reached it, it was night, and he and his wife were outside, watching the stars in one of his fields. _

_I summoned a great blizzard to strike him, and at once they looked up and saw me._

_Now, the way of the vampire is to choose a person to turn, and then do so over a period of time, and once it is complete their target will be a vampire also. Toasty had told me of what he looked like, but I didn't believe it until I saw it, and I wept frozen tears. _

_And the last injustice was that while he did not remember me nor the pact, his woman Lara did, and she had not said a word of it to him._

_I spoke to him, in a great roar. 'Marn, my beloved, my most special, he who has my favor, whom I care for above all others! Do you know what you have done?'_

_He sneered. 'Run a farm?'_

_The blizzard heightened, but he was unaffected, as was his wife. _

_I was further angered by his fearless demeanor, and tried again. 'Do you know who I am?'_

_He looked disinterested. 'No idea.'_

'_Perhaps in this guise?' I took the form of a human, one with three blue fox-tails, and nude. He shook his head. Frantic, I tried another, a polar bear, but again he said he did not. I tried one more time, this time taking my normal form as you see me now, but again he denied it._

_He asked me a question, piercing red eyes watching my every move. 'What are you, that you could make it snow? It hasn't snowed here for years.'_

_That was the final straw. 'I am the terrennial Ezra, she who is lord over frost and snow! You had a pact, a sacred pact with me, to care for this land, and never take more than you needed, and yet you have abused it beyond all belief! I now invoke the terms of the contract: Marn, once-man and now-vampire, you are forever banned from this land! Now get out of my sight!'_

_Looking disappointed, he looked to his wife. _

'_Go, you stupid man,' she crowed. 'I never liked you; I just pretended to and suffered your presence so I could have all the things I wished for! This is my land now! Get off it!' _

_And he, crushed absolutely and totally, left. _

_I made to make the woman, Lara, leave, but she refused, saying that she had every right to be there since she had no contract of any sort, nor any obligation to me._

_I gave up, _and left." Ezra sighed. "I haven't seen Marn for a bit over a century now, which is… unfortunate." She shrugged as best she could in her strange-cat-fox-thing form. "It's too bad."

The cat lifted its head from where it had been lying as it listened to her story. "Good story," it murmured, washing its paw again.

Ezra half-smiled. "You'd think so, huh."

"Excuse me, librarian-san," said Alexander's voice suddenly. Ezra heard him and spun around, surprised. "Have you seen a small blue animal come through here?"

"Alexander," she said softly, padding towards him until she was just below him on the ground, "I'm here."

He looked shocked and almost fell from the air, but righted himself, set down on the very confused librarian's desk, and made a little bow. "Thank you very much, librarian-san."

Then he jumped up, started flying again, and followed Ezra out the door.

As they went, he decided to just drop into his human form, a young man with short straw-colored hair and wearing a hakama with a katana strapped to his back and geta sandals, wearing purple eye shadow, and commenced walking next to Ezra. "What were you speaking with that cat, Ezra-san?"

She looked up at him and changed into her own human form, the nude woman with three blue kitsune tails, and stood up from her crouch on the ground before answering. She paused. "Marn."

Alexander nodded in understanding. "Yes…" He looked saddened himself for a minute, not noticing Ezra had stopped walking. She then proceeded to bury her face into his back, holding him around the middle, trying not to cry. He pulled up short, and just stood there for a moment before prying her arms from around his waist, turning around, and then held her properly as she cried into his chest, shoulders shaking.

"It's okay," he reassured her, stroking her hair gently as she wept. "We'll find him somehow."

"It'll be okay."

--

ahh, hello. Yep, this was what I was talking about.

Again, PLEASE don't maul me for making Ezra go soft. Seriously.

Btw, in case you're wondering, he was more like her little pet or hobby than a 'lover' or whatever; she just put a lot of energy into it and so it really broke her heart when he turned and backstabbed her. And therefore she doesn't trust humans any more.

Between terrennials… well, I wanted them to seem more accessible. Alexander is kinda like a doting boyfriend sort of person, Nero is the 'big brother', Ursula likes watching things go wrong but she's just as happy watching them go as planned, Toasty agrees with Ezra cos all his 'pet projects' (ie Trinity, Django, and mostly Sabata/Sartana/Lucian) went wrong and whatnot, and Tove is the cute little kid everyone looks after.

…but yeah.

Hope you liked it.

With the story, I was kinda gunning for one of those old folk tales, the kind that repeats itself several times, you know? I figured Ezra would tell it like that because she/they are so old. Aka the age of the world, y'know?

Yep yep!

Love,

The Head Baka


	7. And All That

I don't know why I haven't put this up yet. I thought I did. Oh well.

By the way, I have decided to completely abandon Marn. Yes, I know. But I have a special hate for OCs (and I have no idea where to go with him and whatnot), so. I may end up deleting the chapters involving him specifically.

* * *

The next time Lucian's over-protectiveness reared its ugly head was almost a month later.

The guild was preparing to face the newest wave of undead and monsters attacking citizens; everyone was on duty.

Bea was down in the sewers, rescuing a band of maintenance workers who were trapped by a cave-in and would probably become food sooner or later.

Ernest was helping rebuild a house that had collapsed because of too much damage to its structural integrity; the house belonged to three families who lived in it, one of which was politically sensitive, the members of which, a father and two children along with their stepmother, were sometimes attacked by other families and the ensuing fights often damaged the house.

Kay was sick.

And Aaron was going off to deal with a distress call they had received from the Santa Cecelia train station.

As usual, nobody knew where Lucian had sneaked off to, and even if they did there was no way he would help them, so they didn't even bother asking him. People generally just left him to his own devices, provided he didn't interfere with their work, which he, although he _said_ he didn't care about it, seemed to respect at least somewhat.

Therefore it was with some trepidation that Aaron set off to get in a good day's work, for if he was alone and he failed or passed out, who knew what would happen?

Originally he had considered tying the Burning Headband on Toasty, but he didn't want to make him angry, and plus, he would just look ridiculous, so he decided not to.

As only one of the pair could use any given terrennial at any given time, Aaron had taken Toasty, Tove, and Alexander while Lucian had taken Nero, Ursula, and Ezra. The rationale behind this was that Tove's Whistle Move would keep him alive, if nothing else, and Alexander could push back the enemies if their numbers got too many and he was out of energy. He had no idea why Lucian took the other two without complaint (he was obviously going to take Nero; that was a given) but he wasn't going to think too hard about it.

The details of the mission were fairly simple. A man who had violet hair completely by coincidence had been attacked by the various 'security' beings who had been set on high alert for anyone with the same color hair, due most probably to Lucian and his escapade through said train station. The unwitting victim had passed out and the other would-be passengers were protecting him, trying to hold out until they could get him medical attention, and one of them had sent the distress call.

Halfway through day had turned to night and Aaron began to have to rely on items to replenish his energy.

Two hours later, he used his last item.

Twenty minutes after that he ran out of energy and had to start running.

He made it for another hour and a half but then there were two Cold Ghouls and a Petro Ghoul along with a little horde of Pigs. Aaron was nursing a gash across is shoulder and one on his midsection, which wouldn't be a problem if he had any restoratives, but since he didn't, they were bad. Really bad.

The Petro Ghoul stepped, stepped, and then jumped forward and bit Aaron. He yelled in pain; it had taken a chunk out of his shoulder. He fell backwards, scrambling backwards away from them as best he could with only one arm (the other was pressed against his newest wound to staunch the bleeding) and his legs. Then one of the Cold Ghouls walked towards him and he closed his eyes, sure it was going to kill him... he heard it step forwards and bite-

It howled in pain, and he opened one eye to see it fall to the ground. He looked up to see…

"Lucian! What are you doing here?"

The swordsman finished off the rest of the enemies before holstering Vanargand and turning to him. "You stupid _idiot,_" he growled, hauling Aaron to his feet by his shirt. Aaron cringed, ready for a lecture on risk-taking, but instead felt Lucian's lips on his own. Surprised, he froze for a moment until Lucian pulled away, still frowning at him. "Don't you know the meaning of the phrase 'retreat to safety'?" Lucian groused, obviously annoyed. "I'm going to have to keep following you around if you keep this up. Stupid."

He kissed Aaron again and then took a few Cure and Magic Bulbs out of his pocket and stuck them in Aaron's mouth, which was still hanging open in astonishment, and waited for a minute in which Aaron did and said nothing before heaving a sigh and telling the shorter male to chew and swallow, which he did.

One hour later they had the people safely on the next train to their original destination, the innocent man healed and sent off with them, and they were heading back towards the hideout to report their success.

Aaron had been quieter than usual, but Lucian wasn't any quieter than he normally was; he didn't talk too much anyway. Lucian was just beginning to worry about Aaron when he felt him tugging on the sleeve of his cloak. He turned to face him, crouching a little to approach Aaron's eye level, and was pleasantly surprised when the brunette kissed him sweetly. He smiled, which was something unusual for him. Aaron blushed. "Thanks for saving me back there."

Lucian's smile grew into a full-blown grin. "I wasn't about to let you get away _that _easily, you know."

Off to the side, Toasty swore, and then sighed. "Well, it definitely isn't genetic."

Nero just smirked happily.


End file.
